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Heaven's Fall: the Dramatic Conclusion to This Heart-racing Near-future Trilogy
David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
Book
THEIR GREATEST TEST MAY BE THEIR LAST Humanity is facing its greatest challenge. The alien Reivers...
Wrath of the Lemming-men
Book
From the depths of Space a new foe rises to do battle with mankind: the British Space Empire is...
Riddick (2013)
6.6
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Movie Watch
Vin Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick in the latest chapter of the groundbreaking...
Britt Daniel recommended Over the Edge by Wipers in Music (curated)
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Incendies (2010) in Movies
Feb 11, 2021 (Updated Feb 11, 2021)
The third in my series of films you would recommend to a visiting alien to explain humanity is… the harrowing yet utterly brilliant Incendies (2010), directed by Denis Villeneuve, from the play by Wajdi Mouawad.
Utilising a French and Arabic speaking cast you have probably never seen before, this brutal drama feels as close to reality as you would ever want a story of this nature to be. Yet, of course because it is a Denis Villeneuve film (he also made Blade Runner 2049, Enemy, Prisoners, Arrival, Sicario etc, if you are not familiar with him) it is drenched in style and visual embellishment that makes it a work of art transcending a documentary feel. Naturalism is evident in the acting, but so is an awareness of storytelling. It also boasts one of the most jaw dropping endings I have ever seen. Once experienced, never forgotten. Rated the 111th best film of all time on IMDb currently, and my Decinemal score agrees with that.
Utilising a French and Arabic speaking cast you have probably never seen before, this brutal drama feels as close to reality as you would ever want a story of this nature to be. Yet, of course because it is a Denis Villeneuve film (he also made Blade Runner 2049, Enemy, Prisoners, Arrival, Sicario etc, if you are not familiar with him) it is drenched in style and visual embellishment that makes it a work of art transcending a documentary feel. Naturalism is evident in the acting, but so is an awareness of storytelling. It also boasts one of the most jaw dropping endings I have ever seen. Once experienced, never forgotten. Rated the 111th best film of all time on IMDb currently, and my Decinemal score agrees with that.
Tom Turner (388 KP) rated The Humans in Books
May 26, 2021
<strong>A Great Read</strong>
I have to admit, the question of how an entity foreign to this planet would view certain things has occupied my thoughts on more than one occasion. This is pretty much what is at the centre of The Humans by Matt Haig, and he pulls it off amazingly. The thing is, it's pretty mind blowing to think exactly how much would be foreign, strange and unusual to something that isn't used to it. Even the way we behave, so managing to get us to feel that way is quite an accomplishment! Yes, I'm sure if you study it carefully there will be a few things where you would go 'How would an alien know about that?' but I'm pretty sure you'd have to go looking for them.
Ultimately Haig has written a convincing story that makes you truly think about your own existence, and that's a brilliant achievement.
I have to admit, the question of how an entity foreign to this planet would view certain things has occupied my thoughts on more than one occasion. This is pretty much what is at the centre of The Humans by Matt Haig, and he pulls it off amazingly. The thing is, it's pretty mind blowing to think exactly how much would be foreign, strange and unusual to something that isn't used to it. Even the way we behave, so managing to get us to feel that way is quite an accomplishment! Yes, I'm sure if you study it carefully there will be a few things where you would go 'How would an alien know about that?' but I'm pretty sure you'd have to go looking for them.
Ultimately Haig has written a convincing story that makes you truly think about your own existence, and that's a brilliant achievement.
Rodney Barnes (472 KP) rated X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) in Movies
Sep 4, 2019
The Dark Phoenix??
Contains spoilers, click to show
I have to begin by saying is I am glad Fox is done with the X men. This bad excuse for a Dark Phoenix story was by far the worst of the lot. I thought the Apocalypse movie was bad. They made one worse! I know there is only so much you can do in a movie but to call this The Dark Phoenix was not the right movie title. Maybe it should have been called X Men: The Alien Invasion. That's all this movie was...a story about Jean Grey getting the Phoenix powers and Aliens trying to get her and steal the powers to rebuild their race. That's the storyline. It seems there wasn't even an effort to tell the story half way right. But at the expense of going on a rant, Fox is done so maybe now Marvel can do the X men justice. My recommendation...don'r waste your time on this abomination.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The 5th Wave: Book 1 in Books
Sep 5, 2019
Sci-fi is not one of my favourite genres, unless it has a good, solid romance in it. This one didn't.
But I have this thing where if I have the paperback and the movie version is coming out soon that I have to read it first. This is probably something I'd enjoy more as a film than simply reading about because the continual changing of viewpoints without being told whose viewpoint it was got annoying after a while. The first time was a real head spinner since you had no warning but further on when it starts going between three or four people and you have to read so far in to figure it out...nightmare!
One thing I will say for the author though, is that he can write some really good action/fight scenes.
This really wasn't my sort of read but if you like alien invasions, then this'll be right up your street.
But I have this thing where if I have the paperback and the movie version is coming out soon that I have to read it first. This is probably something I'd enjoy more as a film than simply reading about because the continual changing of viewpoints without being told whose viewpoint it was got annoying after a while. The first time was a real head spinner since you had no warning but further on when it starts going between three or four people and you have to read so far in to figure it out...nightmare!
One thing I will say for the author though, is that he can write some really good action/fight scenes.
This really wasn't my sort of read but if you like alien invasions, then this'll be right up your street.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The War of the Worlds (1953) in Movies
Oct 3, 2019 (Updated Oct 3, 2019)
Original Sci-Fi Classic
The War of the Worlds- is a classic, but just not just a classic, a sci-fi classic, that came out in the early 1950's. With this movie, the thing from anethor world and the day the earth stood still that all came out around the same time. The early 1950's was on fire with sci-fi movies.
The Plot- Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
This film and the other that i did mention are a must watch.
The Plot- Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
This film and the other that i did mention are a must watch.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) in Movies
Aug 25, 2019
A bonafide game changer
It cannot be overstated how important and game changing A New Hope was/is.
The first Star Wars film (but 4th chapter of course) is a classic that truly stands the test of time.
Everything managed to hook me in when I first saw it as a young child, from John Williams flawless soundtrack (surely the most iconic movie soundtrack of all time) to the engaging characters.
Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Vader were iconic from the get go.
The set pieces are truly legendary, especially the climatic assault on the Death Star.
All of the locations and planets seem exciting and magical.
The different droids and alien species that we come across are memorable.
All these things that I fell in love with as a child are still intact when I watch it now.
George Lucas lovingly crafted a classic that will always be important.
The first Star Wars film (but 4th chapter of course) is a classic that truly stands the test of time.
Everything managed to hook me in when I first saw it as a young child, from John Williams flawless soundtrack (surely the most iconic movie soundtrack of all time) to the engaging characters.
Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Vader were iconic from the get go.
The set pieces are truly legendary, especially the climatic assault on the Death Star.
All of the locations and planets seem exciting and magical.
The different droids and alien species that we come across are memorable.
All these things that I fell in love with as a child are still intact when I watch it now.
George Lucas lovingly crafted a classic that will always be important.